Arugula Pasta Salad | Naturally Ella

Spring cooking is always about finding a balance between winter and delicious fall produce. As such, pasta plays an integral role in my traditional meals and delicious pasta salads. This arugula pasta salad comes together quickly and is a great way to use up a handful of greens.

Greens!

Every time spring rolls around, I feel like there’s an abundance of green. Kale! Chard! Arugula! I add to everything. This arugula pasta salad, however, shows how easy it is to add tender arugula to a meal.

Why mix fresh things

While I happily eat fresh arugula, the peppery flavor occasionally overpowers or feels overwhelming. A little heat can help with this! Using the heat left over from the pasta and oil is a great way to melt the arugula while still leaving a little bite.

If you prefer fresh arugula, let everything cool before putting everything together.

Make it vegan

As with arugula, using leftover heat with feta allows the cheese to provide a little extra creaminess to an arugula pasta salad. If you want to keep the recipe vegan, I recommend adding a small spoonful of tahini to the oil mixture or non-dairy yogurt before tossing everything in to give the dish a creamy texture.

• 4 oz (114 G) Small shaped pasta
• 1 oz (28 G) Crumbled feta cheese
• 2-3 A large handful of arugula
• 3-4 A spoonful of soup olive oil
• ½ Cup Chopped spring onions (or see note for options)
• ½ Tea spoon Kosher salt
• 1 Tea spoon Lemon flavor
• 1 A spoonful of soup Lemon juice
• ¼ Tea spoon Medium heat ground chili (or see note for other options)

1. Cook the pasta in salted water until cooked and when everything is ready, give it time to still be very hot.

2. Place the crumbled feta in a medium bowl. Gather the arugula into a rough ball and run the knife a few times to create chunks. Place the pieces in the box with the beans.

3. Once you are basically ready to assemble, heat the olive oil in a small oven on medium heat. Add the chopped onion and salt. Cook until the onion is translucent – it’s okay if it browns in a few spots. Remove from heat and add lemon zest, juice and ground chili.

4. Pour the hot pasta into the bowl with the arugula and add. Drizzle with hot olive oil/onion mixture. Using a whisk, toss until everything is well combined. Taste and add more salt if needed. Eat warm or let cool to room temperature before serving.

Onion Options: Spring onions are my favorite because they have a slightly mild onion flavor. However, you can easily exchange an allium. Go with garlic (or green garlic), shallots, scallions or minced yellow onion.
ground chile; When I mention medium-heat ground chilies, I highly respect Diaspora’s Guntur Sannam Chili. However, if you have ground chili it’s better – go with it! If the heat is not your thing, you can change the ground chili to ground black pepper.
No Wilted Greens: If you choose arugula to preserve its fresh green quality, let the pasta and oil cool before adding everything together.
Lemon: If you have lemons on hand, you can swap them for preserved lemon juice. I like to add a teaspoon or so of rice vinegar to the preserved lemon as well to give it a little zing.